Golden

//by Cameron Dokey//published 2006//

Alright, first off, I’m sorry but my computer is being kind of stupid and not letting me post an image of this book so.  You’ll either have to use your imaginations or look it up.  ;-)

Anyway, Golden is a title in a series of books that are all retellings of various fairy tales. They aren’t connected in any way, and are written by several different authors, so you can read them in any order you like.  I had read Golden before many years ago, but really couldn’t remember anything about it at all, so it felt like a completely new read.

In Dokey’s version, Rapunzel’s mother rejects her child and allows the enchantress to have her baby.  Rapunzel, who narrates the story, grows up with Melisande and works with her on their small farm.  It is a rather simple tale, as good fairy tales are, but with a depth to the telling that leaves the story resonating with you later.

It might have been better if I had been deliberately unkind.  A will to be unkind is like a sickness.  It can be healed or driven out.  But to be unkind because you are thoughtless is the worst kind of blindness: difficult to cure because you cannot see the fault even as you commit it.

This is a book I would definitely recommend to those who enjoy fairy tales.  Golden was a comfortable 4/5.  While not a long or complicated book, the very simplicity of the story gives it depth.